Most manufacturers of LSDs use standard steel plates, however at Titan we use upgraded materials to offer you a superior product with far better frictional characteristics. We offer a sintered compound called Sintrak as well as a Carbon compound that offers even better friction characteristics

FRICTION PLATESFriction plates are at the core of LSDs and are responsible for limiting the difference in speed between both axles of a differential. Traditionally steel plates are used in plate differentials but the friction properties of steel lead to undesirable effects – notably the squeal and grabbing effect - because of the non-linear friction property of steel. To improve this undesirable noise vibration harshness (NVH) Titan offers a choice of two materials – Sintrak or Carbon XT.

SINTRAK PLATES - Using a well-developed sintering process a high strength friction material is applied to a steel former to provide a more progressive and linear friction coefficient vs clamping force. This linear effect offers better NVH properties as the plates will not grab / squeal like a steel plate would. Another benefit is an improved response at the point where the plates start to move – the friction when static compared to dynamic is reduced when compared to steel. The material is specially designed to be run in a high performance oil environment and has excellent thermal stability.

CARBON XT - These plates have a carbon based friction material whose friction coefficient is similar from static to dynamic which translates to an even smoother transition when the plates start moving. Carbon is also less noisy than Sintrak and steel plates. The wear properties are similar to Sintrak.

RAMP ANGLEIn simple terms; ramp angles affect the clamping force on the friction plates when accelerating and braking. Different ramps are used for acceleration and braking and the angle of the ramp affects how aggressive the increase in clamping force is vs transmitted torque – i.e. the more torque going through the differential the more clamping force. The ramp angle is the angle A defined on the following picture: The closer to 0° the angle is, the more clamping force is applied. Typically 25° is a minimum and the most aggressive angle to select and is usually selected on acceleration. The maximum angle is 90° which effectively disables the ramp effect for this mode. The first number is the acceleration ramp angle and the second is the braking ramp angle.

PRELOADPreload is the static clamping force on the friction plates and is felt when not accelerating or braking- i.e. it is the minimum clamping force and will affect how manoeuvrable the car is. The higher the preload the more torque difference is required to make the plates begin to slip - i.e. the more locked the differential will be. So for example, preload will affect the ability for the car to rotate at tight corners on tarmac – if the differential is too locked then the car may not rotate through the corner as easily and may understeer. Titan offer preload configurations from 20 lb/ft. to 80 lb/ft., but selecting the value is very much car and application dependant. Although configured at build time preload can easily be changed during servicing using shims. After initial break-in period the preload may relax slightly. ​​